Filing cabinet



G. s. MAHAN 3,011,852

FILING CABINET Original Filed Nov. 5. 1952 IN V EN TOR.

United States arent i l Claim. (Ci. S12- 351) This is a continuation of my copending application, Serial No. 318,791 tiled November 5, 1952, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to filing cabinets and more particularly to an improved filing cabinet adapted to receive and hold relatively large sheets of drawings, tracings, blueprints and the like.

An object of the present invention is to overcome disadvantages present with conventional filing devices of the type above referred to and to provide an inexpensive, compact, rigid cabinet in which relatively large sheets of drawings and the like may be tiled with a minimum of effort and a maximum of convenience.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved iling cabinet in which sheets of drawings, tracings, blueprints and the like may be led and readily removed without creasing or tearing the sheets o-r smearing pencil lines thereon.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved tiling cabinet having sirnple and efficient means for receiving and securely retaining a plurality of relatively large sheets of drawings :and particularly adapted to facilitate removal of a particular drawing with a minimum of time and effort and without disturbing adjacent drawings.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a durable iiling device of the type above referred to which is simple in construction, economical of manufacture, eicient, and pleasing in appearance.

The above as well as other and in certain cases more detailed objects will become apparent from the following description and the appended claim. A preferred but illustrative embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings throughout the several views of which corresponding reference characters designate corresponding parts and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention showing a drawing partially inserted therein;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, sectional, side elevational view of the rear end portion of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, sectional, side elevational view of the front end portion of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, a frame or cabinet generally designated is provided, formed of a single sheet of material shaped in the form of an eiongated, rectangular box which may be of any convenient length and which has top and bottom walls 12 and 14 joined by side walls 16 and 18.

While cabinet 10 may be made of cardboard, sheet metal, plastic, or anyr other suitable material, it is preferred to use relatively heavy cardboard.

The front end portion of the cabinet is open, while a rear end wall 20 is formed by slotting and bending the rear portion of the top, bottom and side walls as shown in FIG. 2.

In order to protect the forward edges of the cabinet and to provide a more pleasing appearance, a channel shaped reinforcing piece 22 is secured to the forward end portions of the top, bottom and side walls, as shown in FIG. 3. Such reinforcing piece may be made of plastic, rubber or other suitable material such as paper tape, and may be fastened to the walls in any convenient manner.

For the purpose of receiving and holding rolled sheets of drawings, such as 24, a plurality of tubular members,

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such as 26, 27 and 2S, are provided, the axes of which extend longitudinally in the cabinet 10. The tubular members may be made of cardboard, metal, plastic or other suitable material having suflicient rigidity to protect the enclosed drawing. Each vtubular member is rigidly secured to the adjacent tubular members by staples or rivets, such as 30, 32 and 34, or other suitable means, while the tubular members in the outer rows and columns are rigidly secured to the top, bottom, and side Walls respectively in a similar manner. Such a construction serves to reinforce the cabinet so that the cabinet is oapable of sustaining relatively heavy loads, as when a plurality of similar cabinets are stacked thereon.

In order to facilitate the rolling of the sheet when tiling sheets of drawings, blueprints and the like, the sheets are initially rolled on a tubular member, such as 36, of somewhat smaller diameter than the diameter of the tubular members such as 27. The rolled sheet `and tubular member 36 are inserted in a selected tubular member, such as 27, after which the tubular member 36 is withdrawn while the rolled sheet remains in the tubular member 27 lt will be appreciated that the tubular members, such as 26, 27 and 28, may be readily indexed by rows and columns so that drawings may be inserted in, or located and removed therefrom, with a minimum of time and effort.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that various changes `and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a filing cabinet for blueprints and the like, the combination including a cabinet in the form of a parallelepiped and having spaced horizontally disposed top and bottom walls joined by spaced vertically disposed side walls and dening a chamber, a plurality of horizontally disposed tubular members of substantially circular cross section fitted in the chamber dened by said cabinet and arranged in substantially vertical columns and horizontal rows, all of said tubular members being contiguous to each other, each of said columns and rows including more than two of said tubular members, the longitudinal axes of said tubulm members extending in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said cabinet with the longitudinal axes of the tubular members in each column being substantially coplanar and lying in a substantially vertical plane and the longitudinal axes of the tubular members in each row being substantially coplanar and lying in a substantially horizontal plane, a plurality of fastening members at each end of each of said tubular members, each of the tubular members in each outer row and each outer column being fastened by said fastening members to `at least two other tubular members and also being fastened by said fastening members to the adjacent said walls of said cabinet, each of the remaining tubular members being fastened by said fastening members to at least four other tubular members.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 380,009 Wundt Mar. 27, 1888 449,734 Eastman Apr. 7, 1891 877,064 Edsell Jan. 2l, 1908 1,192,744 Brough July 25, 1916 1,218,814 Steinmetz Mar. 13, 1917 1,765,417 Bombard June 24, 1930 2,401,842 Slater June 11, 1946 2,426,749 Sebastian Sept. 2, 1947 FOREGN PATENTS 149,837 Great Britain Aug. 26, 1920 

